Is the debate between theists and atheists really a debate?

Question

I thought that coming here would help enlighten me concerning debate of deity. Unfortunately, the only theists that participate come from a single religion resulting in a lack of diversity in the theist camp. This is not their fault, obviously, but a pantheist or two would be refreshing. Where is the attempt at substantial discourse? Each side throws insults, shifts blame, conjures irrelevant histories, quotes texts that are unread by the opposition, uses logical fallicies in their diatribes, refuses to stay on topic, complains about each others power or lack thereof, avoids exploration of a consensus regarding moral and ethical principals, and cannot seem to actually discuss the opposition's conspiracy theories. There is a lot of fear, anger and rage in this "debate". I am aware that resistance to ignorant and dangerous philosophies is important. But is this business a conversation? Is this debate a war or a nursery?

Answer 1

It's not a debate. It seems to me that neither side will admit to the possibility that there is truth in both arguments. It is all or nothing. There are pantheists who respond, and there are non-christian theists who respond. These minorities are dismissed equally by both christians and atheists. It seems that the only time they aren't beating up on one another is when they team up to beat on those who are neither christians nor atheists. What is especially sad is that, as is usually the case, the truth lies not with one or the other, but between them.

Answer 2

My experience on the Yahoo message boards ( in those good old days when they still existed) is that the theists, and then especially the fundies, who deny evolution, are very apt at dodging questions. They never answer particular questions, don't go into it it when someone provides evidence of evolution (and there is a lot of evidence of that), or come up with some strange theory in which animals are divided into "kinds", and that within kinds it is possible to evolve. When asked to give a definition of those kinds it remains silent.

True: some atheists throw insults too, but any serious discussion with a fundie will end with the fundie repeating: "because it is in the bible", they are not interested in science at all, and will refuse to learn about it (probably the ones who do will stop being a fundie).

I like this question: "I God created the world who created God?" I know the answer people give : "God always existed; you assume a big bang as a starting point, that's just the same". I don't agree, I think if you explain intelligence by another (even more intelligent) being, you are not explain anything at all, whereas if you start from just matter, you explained something. You don't explain the existance of this matter of course, probably no one ever will

Answer 3

Oo, good point.

I'm pagan, myself. I have faith in something, but I don't know what it is. My belief is that most religions try to shove God, The Creator, what have you, into a box -- and a deity isn't meant to be defined so easily.

I suppose the best pantheistic argument would probably come from someone who is agnostic, someone who is unsure of the existence of a deity or deities, but someone who could look at a variety of religions from a scholarly standpoint.

Though discussions of this nature are, in my opinion, important to have now and then, they are too often turned into arguments. People don't seem to want to accept that there is no way to know if there is a higher power or not. Whether one believes or doesn't believe, that is faith either way. You can have faith that something is there, or you can have faith that it's not there. Either way, one can't browbeat someone else into accepting faith. It just has to be there.

Good question, though. It's nice to see things like this instead of those too-often seen "what is the meaning of life" or "how can i lose 5 lbs really quick?" Questions like this help redeem Yahoo!answers. ^_~

Have a great day!

Answer 4

Not really.

i have many names and no name is one of them.

can't blame mans bickering on any particular subject war comes form many of them

the very nature of patriation and teamwork and united eventually lead to segregation and competition and war.

Ob1